Obama Administration Seen As “Villains” By Hondurans

This oped, by Gloria Leticia Pineda For La Prensa, Honduras, pulls no punches, and names names. Of special interest to me are the bully boy tactics used by Obama’s Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens. It sounds like par for the course from the Obama administration.

Translated by Halszka Czarnocka

July 24, 2009

The current crisis in Honduras has revealed the best and worst of our society. Let’s begin with the latter. And I don’t here refer to [ousted President] Manuel Zelaya, since history has already judged him and his henchmen who, in the name of the people, squandered the public coffers.

We have several villains who have tried to operate below the radar, which is why I cannot allow myself to let their movements and statements go unnoticed. Let’s begin with the representatives of the U.S. government. Barack Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton and [U.S. Ambassador to Honduras] Hugo Llorens, have, as the gringos would say, “dropped the ball,” or translated into Spanish, “put their foot in it [metido la pata]” in regard to their policy on the institutional crisis in Honduras. I can accept their questioning the way we removed Zelaya from Honduras (although, as we’ve stated in past articles, this was perhaps the only option we had to avoid a social and public security breakdown).

But I cannot abide how, ignoring our legal foundations, they have worked to isolate us within the international community. I consider abusive the efforts of Llorens, who, in clear violation of our Constitution and in complete disregard of our right to self-determination, proceeded to make appointments and visit various business groups in Honduras in order to threaten and get them to desist from their opposition to the return of Zelaya, insinuating all sorts of consequences. I was wrong about Llorens. When he first came to present his credentials and was humiliated by Zelaya, I thought he was a reasonable man. But now I find that his intentions don’t have as a goal the overall interests of our people and relations between two countries which have distinguished themselves by being historically natural allies.

I think Llorens’s diplomatic career will be very much affected by his clumsy handling of this crisis and his lack of forcefulness in curtailing Zelaya’s malicious and continuing pretensions. Today he cut U.S. aid to our nation, but didn’t have the “balls” to denounce the assault on our precarious finances by the previous administration [the Zelaya Administration].

I not sure “balls” translates exactly what the author meant to convey…how about decency? Intellectual honesty? Non partisanship? It’s become clear that Obama favors the anti-Democratic side in this conflict. But this is worse than just taking sides against a traditional ally.

From Nicaragua, where he remains and is organizing a “resistance” movement for returning to Honduras, Zelaya acknowledged to the media that Pres. Obama’s decision to revoke the visas of four Micheletti administration’s officials is “a signal that it does not accept the coup d’etat.” However, he demanded that Obama “continue to squeeze them by seizing their [US bank] accounts, their money”.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said Wednesday that foreign governments should keep on applying sanctions against Honduras’ interim government even as its leaders expressed interest in further negotiations on ending the standoff.

Isn’t that special? As we ease sanctions against a longtime enemy, the anti-American, Communist , Cuba, we apply them to one of the traditionally pro-American counties in the region.

Just brilliant.

Hows this for resolve?

… the interim government is ready to hold out for five months, until a Nov. 29 election that is to replace Zelaya, whose term ends Jan. 27. He expressed confidence that other nations would recognize the results of the vote.

“The people are united and are willing to weather the five months until the elections,” Lopez said.

The interim government insists it cannot accept any deal that would restore Zelaya to the presidency because that would violate a Supreme Court ruling ordering his arrest and a congressional vote removing him from office. Interim leaders have vowed to arrest Zelaya if he sets foot in his homeland on four charges of violating the constitution.

If Zelaya is returned to power in Honduras, with the help of Dear Leader, and begins a “cleansing” either by killing or jailing his opponents….how does jugears spin this situation away? Does the MSM ignore it?